About Builddocs
A Dutch knowledge platform about building, renovating and living in a home — and what it does not cover.
What this is
Builddocs collects practical knowledge about building, renovating, maintaining and buying a home: how a defect arises and what it means, what a step in a renovation actually involves, what something roughly costs, and which rules apply.
Every article says where it draws on, when it was last checked, and — this is the part most sites leave out — what it does not cover. A page that only tells you the good half is not information, it is advertising.
Everything here applies to the Netherlands
This is not a detail. The rules described here are Dutch rules: the Omgevingswet and the permit system built on it, the Wet kwaliteitsborging voor het bouwen (Wkb), the law on owners' associations for apartment buildings (Vereniging van Eigenaars), Dutch subsidy schemes, and Dutch construction practice.
Almost none of that transfers across a border. A permit-free extension in Rotterdam is not permit-free in Antwerp or Aachen, and a Dutch guarantee scheme has no counterpart elsewhere. If you are building outside the Netherlands, this site will be interesting and it will not be correct for you.
Reading it in English
There is no English version of this site, and we would rather tell you that than pretend otherwise. Chrome, Edge and Safari can translate any page here, and for getting your bearings that works well.
For anything you intend to act on, it does not. A machine translation of a rule about permits, notice periods or liability has been checked by nobody — and a mistranslated deadline is not a language problem, it is a legal one. Where the stakes are real, have a Dutch speaker read the original, or ask a professional.
If enough people need this in English, we will translate it properly: written and reviewed, not run through a machine at the moment you open the page.
Who it is for
Homeowners, members of an owners' association, tenants, and the professionals who work for them. Most of what you will find here is written for someone who is not a builder but has to make a decision that a builder will carry out.
Where to start
Reference articles, defects, definitions and dossiers.
Step-by-step plans, checklists, price guides and work specifications.
A directory built on verified facts rather than star ratings.
Questions, answers and a forum. In Dutch.
Those pages are in Dutch. So is the community — questions and answers there are written by people who live with these rules, and translating that conversation would lose more than it gains.
Getting in touch
You can write to us in English. Contact — the form is in Dutch, the reply does not have to be.